Getting real with youth-friendly services in Africa : report of a satellite session at the 2012 International HIV/AIDS Conference : conference report

• Published in: African journal of reproductive health Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 180 - 184
• Main Author: Obianwu, Otibho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Women's Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC) 01.12.2012
• ISSN: 1118-4841; 1118-4841

Africa's young people aged 15-24 years are disproportionately infected and affected by HIV/AIDS as evidenced by the nearly 4 million of sub Saharan African youth who currently live with the virus and the fact that twenty countries in the region Africa accounted for about 69% of all new HIV infections globally in young people in 2009. These figures reveal the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa's youth; yet they do not provide a comprehensive picture of the varied HIV prevalence and their effects among different subgroups of young Africans since they are a highly heterogeneous population. Policymakers and program managers need sound and timely evidence to better target interventions that are rapidly needed to effectively address the HIV prevention and impact mitigation needs (including stigma and discrimination) of the various categories of youth across the region. This is more so because the wellbeing of youth, who make up about one-fifth of the total African population, is intricately tied to the continent's development prospects. However, there is a dearth of robust data on youth that are sufficiently disaggregated to adequately reveal the specific HIV-related vulnerabilities, including stigma and discrimination faced by African's youth.